Chelmsford to reach out to NMCOG on traffic issues

CHELMSFORD -- The town will turn to the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments for help trying to solve traffic issues on Golden Cove Road, including busy intersections at its north and south ends.

Vocal residents of the road, which runs from Billerica Road (Route 129) to Chelmsford Street (Route 110), have pushed for a truck ban on the street, but two traffic-count studies have shown that truck traffic does not account for enough of the overall traffic to meet the state's threshold for a ban. Selectmen have been reluctant to request a truck ban from the state Department of Transportation, and on Monday a motion to take that step was withdrawn when it received no support.

"The data says it's not the trucks," that are the problem, Selectman James Lane said.

Two studies pegged the percent of traffic from trucks at 2 percent and 3 percent. The state requires 5 percent to 8 percent, according to town Engineer Stephen Jahnle.

Instead, the town will work with the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments to look at the Golden Cove Road traffic on a broader scale, including intersections on Billerica Road and Chelmsford Street. The regional planning agency, known as NMCOG, offers transportation and development planning and other assistance to its eight member communities in Greater Lowell.

NMCOG will have its staff work with town officials to figure out how they might be able to find a solution, said Beverly Woods, executive director of the agency.

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Planners would have to ensure that any measures put in place would not push the traffic problem to another area, she said.

Town officials have expressed worry that trucks might use Wilson Street instead, for example. But that street is too narrow for large trucks, and trucks have on multiple occasions damaged a streetlight at the corner of Billerica Road and Chelmsford Street in the town center when taking the sharp right turn, Jahnle said.

Golden Cove Road residents have been outspoken in a series of selectmen meetings about high traffic on their street, particularly, they say, from large trucks. The board voted last month to install signs banning left-hand turns weekdays from 7-9 a.m. from Golden Cove Road to three residential roads used as cut-throughs: Dawn Drive, New Fletcher Street and New Spaulding Street.

Selectmen said they wanted to help the residents but found a truck ban too unlikely.

"Folks, I know you're frustrated. We are, too," Chairman Jon Kurland said. "I'd like us to submit something that has some likelihood of success."

A weeklong traffic study in November measured an average of more than 8,600 vehicles per day, with trucks accounting for 172. A second, 24-hour count on a weekday totaled more than 11,000, with trucks accounting for around 300 of those vehicles.

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